Make Your Own Granola

Whip up a batch of this simple and satisfying treat

Crunchy and sweet, affordable and portable—there's a lot to love about granola. But the store-bought stuff often contains an excessive amount of fat and calories. Sugar is also a concern, says Connie Guttersen, PhD, author of The Sonoma Diet. "Most people don't realize the amount of sugar [in a store-bought mix] because they're focused on lowfat and high-fiber granola," she says. "You need to keep your blood sugar at a healthy level. If you want to do that, you can't buy commercial granola. You need a little more protein, more nutrients from whole grains and less sugar." While a homemade version isn't going to magically make these concerns disappear, it will allow you to control what's in the blend, minimizing additives while maximizing flavor.

Creating your own mixture, ultimately, is as much about creativity as it is nutrition. The goal is to make something that you love—and it couldn't be easier. Most granola mixes require three things: rolled oats, a binder and a sweetener. Then, you can pile on dried fruits, nuts, seeds and spices to your heart's content. John Currence, chef and owner of Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, Mississippi, and contestant on the upcoming third season of Top Chef Masters, notes that "the most important thing, when it comes to making granola, is to start with high-quality ingredients; the better base ingredients you start with, the better the finished product will be."

The binder helps create bite-size chunks of granola during the baking process. Common binders include vegetable, canola, olive or coconut oil as well as applesauce. For the sweetener, go with your favorite(s) based on the flavor you want to impart. Options can include honey, brown sugar, agave syrup, molasses and maple syrup. If you're in search of a new honey to try, Currence recommends Lanier & Sons Honey. "It's tupelo honey from the Florida Panhandle. It eclipses all other honey I've ever had," he says. It has a "mellow honey flavor that balances the flavor versus sweetness—it's a great wild honey."

Use enough add-ins to provide flavor and texture, but not so much that they overwhelm the mix—or saturate it with calories and fat. The general rule of thumb is 1 to 2 cups of total add-ins for every 4 cups of oats. (Be particularly careful with spices, though.) Chop up all of the ingredients so they're relatively uniform in size to ensure everything cooks evenly. Some favorite add-ins include:

Prep Tips
• Bake the granola mix on a baking sheet, the larger the better. Currence recommends using a nonstick one, or lining the pan with parchment paper brushed with butter.
• Spread the mixture out as evenly as possible, avoiding large clumps. "When there are big clumps on top of each other, the bottom parts won't get crunchy," advises Dana Angelo White, MS, RD, ATC, nutritionist and Food Network Healthy Eats blogger.
• Turn the mixture at least once while cooking—it's even better if you do it about every 10 minutes—so it browns and cooks evenly. White says, "A lot of the ingredients in granola have naturally high sugar content, so they can burn easily," especially if not stirred regularly.
• Some recipes advise you to combine the wet ingredients before blending with the dry. You can, but it's not necessary. Feel free to load everything into one bowl and then blend well.

Special Diets
• Kid-Friendly: Stick with the same basic ingredients, but opt for the sweeter, more familiar dried fruits, such as raisins and cherries, and basic nuts, such as peanuts. Michelle Tampakis, pastry arts instructor at New York's Institute of Culinary Education, recommends adding some crunchy cereal or chocolate chips.
• Reduced-Fat/Calorie: Scale back on the nuts and seeds and use a little more dried fruit. Dr. Guttersen recommends chopping up the fruit into very small pieces, so it goes further, giving you "a little bit in every bite, so you perceive a greater amount of fruit flavor." Tampakis uses egg whites in place of oil.
• Gluten-Free: Oats are naturally gluten-free—it's cross-contamination that causes the problem. Opt for a brand that produces gluten-free, such as Bob's Red Mill.

Recipes
For your first foray into granola making, it might be easier to work within the confines of a recipe. See some of our favorites below. Then, once you get comfortable with it, the sky's the limit!

Recipe Preparation:
1. Heat oven to 300°F.
2. Combine oats, bran, flaxseeds, nuts, seeds, coconut, spices and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine agave syrup, applesauce, brown sugar, vanilla and olive oil.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix well. Scoop onto a baking sheet and spread in a 1/4-in.-thick layer. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes, until golden brown. The granola will seem a little soft when it is finished cooking. It will dry up as it cools. Add the dried fruit once the granola is cool.

Recipe Preparation:
1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the oats, spices, salt, coconut and nuts in a bowl.
3. Warm the coconut oil, honey and vanilla in a small saucepan, pour it over the oats and toss to coat.
4. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring the oats two or three times.
5. Remove from the oven and stir in the dried fruit. Let cool completely.

Storage
Once the granola has cooled, store it in an airtight container. Eat it within a week for best results.

Serving Tips
According to White, a healthy portion of granola is typically around ¼ cup—which doesn't always seem like very much. Stretch the granola and turn it into a satisfying snack by serving it with plain nonfat Greek yogurt, nonfat frozen yogurt, oatmeal, whole-grain flake cereal or fresh fruit.

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